DailyNightmareOn the Pagan holiday, Imbolc, the Doktor is once again opening a special package, and he can hardly contain his excitement.
Watch as the Doktor opens this one-of-a-kind hand carved bear skull (yes, a real bear skull!) and shows off the fine craftsmanship of Rachel Lee. How can you get your hands on such a treasure? Follow the Doktor’s tips for discovering the best bone art worth owning.
Follow Rachel Lee’s Instagram on @Rachleeroth.
Doktor Leech is on Instagram @grimgnome13.
“You’ve got mail” doesn’t get much weirder than this!
In this clip, the Doktor is excited about unboxing some highly unusual porcine pretties. What is the deal with this package? Why does he want them? And what will he do with them?
Tune into this unboxing video to learn about the strange phenomena of mummified piglets, get the answers to these questions, and grow in your knowledge of our version of Midwest Weird.
By Michael Cieslak
Why are we afraid of the dark?
Humans rely on sight far more than any of our other senses, so it seems a pity that our night vision is not as good as that of a lot of other predators. In addition to our poor sight in the dark, we have giant brains which can imagine all kinds of terrifying things which could be inhabiting that great, unseen area. I’m Zed, and today we’ll be looking at how to leverage this particular human vulnerability to scare the pants of anyone who comes to your house around Halloween.
Lighting must be considered as an essential element when setting up your home haunt. For this post, we will assume that your haunt will be designed to be viewed in the dark. Whether this means it is going to be creepiest at night or if you have built something that people will walk through does not make a difference. Either way you are going to want to control the lighting to create the maximum Spooky Quotient (SQ). 
Unfortunately, the power of light is sometimes out of our control. If you happen to have a streetlight at the edge of your yard, there is nothing you can do to diminish this illumination short of shooting out the bulb with a BB Gun. (For the record, I do not endorse shooting out streetlights with BB Guns.) What you can do, however, is control the lights which you do own. Red, green, and yellow lightbulbs are available at just about any hardware store (although you might have to downgrade from fluorescents for the evening). Even bug repellent bulbs will work in a pinch.
First, consider the color of the light. Many people make the mistake of grabbing a red bulb because of its blood-colored associations. Red light will tend to give things a bloody or possibly demonic cast certainly, but this is not the only choice. If zombies populate your haunt, consider a yellow or even a green lightbulb. These options can give everything a pale, sickly, almost jaundiced cast. Blue lights can create a spectral or otherworldly glow. They also work well with ghosts, animated skeletons, and aliens.
Your second concern will be the kind of lights to use. One of my absolute favorite purchases was a set of mini LED spotlights. The bad news is that manufacturer is no longer in business. The good news is that countless companies have sprung up to take their place. The benefits of these mini spotlights include color choice, the ability to mix colors, directionality, easy concealment, and energy efficiency. The ones that I use require so little electricity that I am able to connect them using stereo speaker wire.
Alternative light sources abound. Glow sticks are a cheap and colorful option. Flashlights with colored cellophane over the lens make great (and cheap!) sources of illumination. The amount of light coming from them can be limited by covering the lens with a piece of cardboard with a slit or hole cut in it. Lanterns, gooseneck lamps, and even mechanic’s lights can all be put to good use.
A note on lighting and safety: Keep in mind that the lights are going to be outdoors and exposed to the elements. Because of the way I have wired mine, I do not use the mini-spotlights in inclement weather. Be aware of positioning. Once one of my can lights, which was rated for outdoor use, slipped off of the clamp holding it and ended up pointing directly up. This allowed it to collect water from the light drizzle. Water + electricity. Not a good mix.
Definitely avoid using open flames. At best you are going to have to deal with the fact they will constantly be blown out by the slightest wind. At worst you have an open flame meeting a flowing costume. If you want to achieve a flickering candle affect, invest in flameless candles.
The third and most important thing to think about is placement. Don’t fall into the habit of always lighting things from the top down. Illuminating an object from above, be it a person or a prop, will cast many of the features in shadow, especially if the prop has a large head or hood. Even more damning is that things illuminated from above tend to appear smaller than they actually are, and nothing ruins the ominous 12 foot tall figure of the Grim Reaper like lighting it from above. Conversely, lighting something from below tends to make it appear larger than it actually is. By placing the source of illumination below a prop and a few feet out, you will create a looming shadow behind it. This also allows you to control which parts of the prop your visitors will focus on. Such an easy way to ramp up the all-important SQ of your haunt! An added benefit is that by lighting from below and focusing on the head or chest (if it is a person-shaped figure, that is) anything you put behind it — say the wires holding it in place — will be in shadow.
Other options abound. Another eerie affect can be created by backlighting the object. A light placed behind a prop will not only make it look bigger, it will also dazzle the eyes of the viewer, making it more difficult to see any details you might want hidden. The shadow caused by backlighting will engulf the viewers, making them feel as if they are already in the grip of whatever monster materializes before them.
As an example, think about the original A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
As I hinted above, the easiest way to scare someone is to allow their own minds to do the work for you. An oblique light source, one which comes from one side or from above or below but only illuminates a portion of the prop, will force the viewer to imagine what the rest of it looks like. In most cases the portion filled in by the imagination will be more frightening than what you could actually build. In addition, shadows create the illusion of movement, lending even more believability to what is actually a static prop.
Of course, you don’t have to rely on static props. There are a number of ways to bring your props to life using everything from gravity to small motors to pneumatics. Popular moving props include spinning ghosts, crank ghosts, shakers, lifters, and poppers — my own terms. A lot can be accomplished with a small motor and a little know how. Depending upon how it is set up, a motor can cause a prop to spin in place, or it can drive a pulley system which will make that same prop move back and forth. These are often ghosts and light skeletons as increased weight will cause the motor to burn out.
Another common method of making movement is to use compressed air to cause a prop to pop up, lean forward, or shake. Pneumatics are used to make coffin lids shake as if someone is trying to get out, cause 20-foot monsters to leap forward menacingly, and everything in between. The construction of these kind of props is not necessarily something that beginners want to try on their first time out. Fortunately, there are many places where you can learn skills to safely build more advanced material. The Motor City Haunt Club meets monthly on the University of Detroit – Mercy campus. They welcome all Halloween enthusiasts from the novice to the expert. People looking to build their own props might be interested in joining a local maker space or hacker space. There are a number in the Detroit area including i3 and the Tech Shop. These and other similar facilities have all sorts of tools and equipment for use. Members pay a monthly fee and generally have to qualify on the equipment before using it for the first time. They are great places to do woodworking, metal crafting, needlework, laser etching, and even 3D printing without having to break the bank purchasing the equipment yourself.
A few final words about pneumatics and safety: unless you have the necessary skills to construct your own framework and pneumatic props, I strongly encourage you to purchase them from someone with prop making experience. DC Props and Frightprops are excellent sources for the materials you will need to safely construct your own pneumatics. There are other (less reputable) retailers who will sell things much cheaper, but it is important to note that these are generally made from things like screen door closers which are not designed to withstand the pressure put out by an air compressor and could explode. You must also make sure the prop you are using is properly affixed to the framework so it does not go flying off and injure someone when activated. Safety first, haunters!
Stay tuned next week for our discussion of special effects on a budget!
By Michael Cieslak
By this time, you have spent months planning your home haunt, meticulously determining where each and every prop should be placed. You’ve arranged your material to maximize your Spooky Quotient (SQ), but it still looks like something is lacking.
Your problem? You need to populate your haunt. Without an array of characters, all that you have is a diorama, a set. It’s like being in a creepy cabin in the woods. Sure, it’s scary, but after a while you get used to it. What you really need to get the blood pumping is a chainsaw-wielding maniac to burst through the door.
Pun intended.
The best way to do this is to have actual people in costume there to help you scare the little demons and goblins. Now, I understand that is not always an option. Don’t fret, your old Uncle Zed is here to help! I’ll show you how to make friends and influence people.
By that I mean literally build people and use them to scare other people.
Calling All Creatures
Some people who are looking to up the stakes in their yard haunts spend a lot of time looking for cast off mannequins. Unfortunately, the ability to acquire them has become rather difficult as of late. The demand for used dummies has come to the attention of most department store owners. Your chances of finding one in the dumpster behind Sears are extremely rare. Naturally, you can order them on-line. Expect to pay around $100 for a life-sized or near-life sized plastic model, and anywhere from $150 to $400 for fiberglass. Halloween prop supply companies have mannequins made from a wide variety of material. The “inexpensive foam” models usually run about $400 and the prices go up from there.
The reason for the higher price is that the products supplied by the Halloween stores are usually not blank slates. You are paying for material that is already mutilated, painted, and gory. The exception would be the inflatable figures which are cheap, but not posable. They are also susceptible to high winds and puncture damage.
Given that you will probably want more than one figure in your yard, allow me to suggest a few alternatives. Most of the figures in my own yard are built around a chicken wire frame. These models are inexpensive to build, can be built to your own size and specifications, are posable, and reusable. All you need is a roll of chicken wire and a pair of tin snips. I also recommend a pair of sturdy gardening gloves to protect your hands. Simply create a large cylinder for the body, folding in the top portion to support the head, and smaller cylinders for arms and legs. The trick to attaching them is to have one side a little longer than the other, allowing a more limb-like connections (instead of arms that stick straight out to the sides).
The next step to turning them from wire frames into someone spooky is dressing them. If you want, you can cover your bodies with papier-mâché, but I find this unnecessary, as it adds the additional task of waterproofing your monsters. I just cover the wire with whatever I am dressing the creature as. Old shirts, pants, or suits are great for zombies. To add some realism, roll the clothing in the dirt before dressing them. Street clothes are also great for werewolves. I am a huge fan of creatures wearing robes — a larger than life Death figure, demons, etc. (This is primarily because my legs tend to come out a little on the thin side, and with robes you don’t have to worry about legs at all, just the head, torso, and arms!)
The only real problem with wire frame figures is that they tend to be light. A strong wind will knock them over, or occasionally turn them airborne. My wife has a great video of me futilely chasing my Grim Reaper across a park. To avoid this, and to give the figure some stability, I use PVC pipes planted in the ground. Fishing line is an excellent tool for attaching a ghoul to a fence, post, or other structure. Another way to keep them grounded is to buy a set of cheap tent stakes, the ones that look like metal candy canes. Simply drive the stakes into the ground with the loop through part of the chicken wire.
Anything can be used as a stand for a home-made mannequin. I’ve used rain barrels, a broken oscillating fan, even the bushes by the house. Tomato cages make great goblin sized people. they can also be wrapped in spider webbing to create the look of a person trapped by a giant spider (or a monster sized spider egg sack). One of my reoccurring characters is a pumpkin-headed scarecrow. I place the head and arms in one of the bushes and it looks like it is coming out of the woods.
You can make your own heads and hands, if you have the sculpting skill. If you are making them out of paper mache, make sure to add enough salt to prevent mold growth and make sure they are completely dry before painting. You might also consider a water resistant shellac as well. I take a much easier route. Almost every Halloween store places its material on sale the day after Halloween. The horror themed retail outlets that spring up every year rent their spaces on limited leases. This means that by the middle of November they have to get all of their merchandise (and their displays in some cases) out of the building. Most would rather sell than ship and store. This is the time to score the essentials like spider webs as well as any big ticket items for half of what you would normally pay–although it does require a bit of foresight on your part. I always pick up a couple of masks and sets of gloves. Theses become the heads and hands of the creatures in my yard the following haunt season. If you follow this method, you can have a wide selection of creatures to choose from after only a few years.
If you will be using masks, I recommend picking up some inexpensive styrofoam heads typically used as wig stands. You can also make heads out of chicken wire or styrofoam balls (available at any craft store), but the heads fill out the masks better. To really make your people stand out, focus on the eyes. Plastic animal eyes can be purchased relatively cheaply from taxidermy supply companies. Most are semi-spherical set on posts which can be driven into your styrofoam head without a problem. Get the creepy looking ones like those for great cats or goats. There are also people who make eyeballs which light up. I found mine on eBay for only a few dollars. Two AA batteries converts a somewhat creepy mask into a demon with glowing eyes.
Skeletons, skulls, and bones of all sizes are also essentials for any spooky house. If you will be doing a lot of work to them (for example, partially melting them for a really creepy look), get the cheap ones available at a drug store or at craft stores. Michael’s usually has their Halloween material out by the end of August/beginning of September and on sale by October to make room for Christmas material.
For quality skulls and skeletons, buy a Bucky. These are anatomically correct skeletons which are not quite good enough for use in a school or university. They can be purchased online from a number of retailers, simply search for “Bucky Skeletons.” The Skeleton Store and the Skeleton Factory both carry reasonably priced Buckys. These are well made, available in different sizes, and will last for years. I’ve had my Bucky for over a decade and he’s still in great shape. These same retailers will sell skulls, skeletal arms and legs, and even bones by the pound.
There are a lot of videos which will show you how to “corpseify” your Bucky, should you want a rotted corpse look. This method uses strips of cloth and stains to turn the white bones into something which looks like it was recently dug up.
Finally, consider simply hinting at more people. A well placed piece of white fabric can and will look like a specter when lit properly. If you have a lot of trees or bushes, you can populate them with hidden creatures using toilet paper rolls. Cut two eye shaped holes in the roll, place a lit glow stick inside, and place the roll deep in the bushes. When the sun sets you will have a bunch of eerily glowing eyes peering out from the foliage. Do this behind one well lit prop, say a spider or a bat, and people will assume that there is a whole colony of similar creepy crawlies in your yard.
One last note, when you are planning your haunt, keep in mind how your yard will look in October. Those lush, green trees that are perfect for hiding things might be bare branches come the Fall.
Stay tuned next week for How To Haunt Your Home Part IV!
By Michael Cieslak
Welcome to part two of our discussion of how to haunt your home. As noted in our first installment, we’re investigating what is required to turn your residence into something fantastically frightening for Halloween.
In terms of full disclosure, I should let you know that my own level of haunting is probably somewhere around Beginner+ to Intermediate-. I have multiple fog machines, an extensive light array, and pneumatics. I both purchase and make my own props. I do have some experience with mask creation and foam latex prop making, but not much. My soldering skills are non-existent.
Oh, you can call me Zed.
Last time around, we discussed the importance of having a centralized theme around which your haunt is based. To explore this further, why don’t we take a quick look at two of the biggest haunts in the area, Realm of Darkness and Erebus. Both are located in Pontiac, but each approaches the idea of theme in a different way.
Realm of Darkness features the classic Quest To Defeat The Wizard. Visitors are lead through a medieval castle filled with various monsters and ghouls until they reach the Wizard at the end. All of the characters and props fits this theme.
Erebus, on the other hand, tells the story of a mad scientist who creates a rift in time and space which allows all manner of horrible things to fall into our world. Using this pretense, the owners can explain areas of science fiction technology next to dinosaurs, swamps inside of a building, and zombies and madmen inhabiting the same space.
So how do you choose your theme? The easiest way to decide is think about what scares you. If there is an idea which creeps you out, odds are it will do the same to someone else. Also, take a look at what you already have purchased. If you have already started building up a supply of props, get them out and see what they have in common. You might have your answer right there.
There are a number of staples for the haunted house which you might want to invest in. These include:
Spiders and webbing — Nothing says “old and creepy” like cobwebs, and spiders rank among snakes and heights as the things most people are afraid of. Large spider webs are also readily available at Halloween stores and are an inexpensive way to start making your house look frightening. The downside to this is that everyone else on the block will have them as well. If you do go the spider route, you might want to invest in a webspinner, a simple device that is essentially a hot glue gun with a fan attachment. This blows the hot glue wherever you point it (wind permitting) and creates gorgeous spiderwebs.
Tombstones — The cemetery is a staple backdrop, whether you are featuring zombies, ghosts, skeletons, or just something eerie. They are also inexpensive, fairly easy to make, and an efficient way to make your haunt look bigger than it is. Placing large tombstones in the front of the yard and progressively smaller ones as the boneyard continues rearward will create a forced perspective effect, and the illusion that the space is much larger.
Skulls, skeletons, and bones — We’ve all got them under our skin, but for some reason people are freaked out by bones. You can use full sized skeletons as scares, skulls as background decorations, or bones in the hands of your zombies and werewolves for an added ick factor. I recommend the 4th Rate Bucky Skeleton, available from a variety of retailers, including The Skeleton Store and the Skeleton Factory. Bucky is an anatomically correct skeleton, quite sturdy (I’ve had mine for ten years or more), and it won’t break your bank.
Fog-Machines — We will go into more detail on fog machines in a later post, but they are a great way to add atmosphere.
A number of resources will help you get ideas for your haunt and in some cases learn how to make your own props.
If you are in the Metro Detroit Area, you should check out the Motor City Haunt Club. This group of haunters and horror fans meets once a month on the campus of the University of Detroit-Mercy. They discuss prop creation, lighting, sounds, fog machines, and just about everything else related to home haunting. Meetings usually feature a how-to demonstration of a Make and Take session where attendees create a prop during the meeting.
On-line Resources:
The internet is an ever-changing landscape. A number of websites devoted to home haunting are only occasionally updated, but they are plenty of archives of useful information which has already been posted. These include the Home Haunters Association, Home Haunt News, and Halloween Show.
Conventions:
Several national conventions devoted to professional Haunted Attractions can be fantastic opportunities to learn. Although some of the material may be beyond the scope of the average home haunter, there are usually also panel discussions and demonstrations which can be applied on a smaller scale. Many include a sales floor that showcases all sorts of different ghoulish goodies as well. Some of the biggest and best include HauntCon, TransWorld, the Mid-West Haunters Convention, and local favorite Great Lakes Fright Fest.
Other Materials:
I recommend the following material for anyone interested in bigger, scarier Halloween material:
Boneyard Productions DVD set: Includes Horrific Haunted House Tips, Scenery Made Easy, Scares Made Frightfully Easy, and The Official guide to Haunted House Actor Training and Operations Management.
The DC Prop Builder’s Handbook: Devious Concoctions Custom Un-Earthed Creations
Grande Illusions: Books I & II by Savini, Tom (2013) Paperback
Stay tuned for more tips, tricks and guidance for building your best Halloween haunt yet.
(Original posting here)
By Michael Cieslak
My name is Zed, and I’m a professional home haunter. I’ve been approached by the Head Nightmarian to discuss the ins and outs of turning your home and/or yard into something terrifying this October.
For those unfamiliar with the term, the home haunter dwells in the middle ground between person who puts up some decorations at Halloween and the Haunted Attractions which spring up around the end of September. The typical home haunt has detailed props, some of which may use light, sound, and pneumatics to achieve their scares. Some home haunts are large enough that they rival the professionals, drawing hundreds or even thousands of people a night.
If you are thinking “this guy is talking about Halloween already?” then this post might not be for you. Everyone else, read on.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to decorating for Halloween. One type of person puts up a whole lot of scary stuff and hopes that something will give passersby the willies. I prefer an approach centered around a theme. This allows each prop to build on the one before. Having a theme also prevents you from breaking the bank by purchasing everything you think looks frightening. If you are going to be creating a terrifying circus, you have an excuse not to buy that wonderful alien prop. If you are creating a zombie-infested cemetery, you don’t need to drop any money on werewolf masks.
The first thing to do, then, is start to plan your haunt. Decide what space you are going to use. Will you be covering your entire front yard? What about the backyard? Will you be inviting people into your home? Each of these has different issues which you should address. Keep in mind that you will still need access to your domicile while the spooky decorations are up. This means that your spouse will want to get the car into the driveway, the postal carrier will need reach your mailbox, and you will probably have to leave to get groceries and go to work.
Or you could just take the last two weeks of October as your vacation.
Set up properly, your decorations can tell a story, even for people who don’t go through it. Passersby can “read” the story you have created as they walk by. When most people think about reading, they picture eyes moving left to right on the page. This may not always be the best set up. Spend a little time examining the traffic patterns, both automotive and pedestrian.
For example, there is a streetlight at the end of my block. Most of the drivers in my subdivision use it as an access point for the major roadway. This means that most of the traffic moving down my street is going north to south, or right to left in the case of my yard. For 2014’s haunt, I decided to tell the story of an alien invasion that raises the dead. The spacecraft I employed was set up to the extreme right, as far as traffic is concerned. The next section featured the aliens themselves, moving towards a cemetery to the left with the reanimated corpses.
Regardless of how big your haunt, your primary concern should be safety. We will be coming back to this topic again and again. Nothing ruins your Halloween fun like a lawsuit.
Here are some things to consider while planning your haunt:
The walking path
If you are going to have people walking on your property, make sure that the path they will be taking is well marked, even, and free of trip hazards. I have invested in outdoor Rope Lighting 100v available on-line and in just about any hardware store. These provide a clear, unbroken pathway for where you would like people to go.
The safety of your props
Another benefit of clearly marking the walking path is that it will keep people from wandering around where you don’t want them. Direct their motions, and they will never see the behind-the-scenes set-up. It will also keep anyone from damaging your props (either accidentally or through malicious vandalism).
Public thoroughfares
If you live in any well-populated residential area, the odds are there are ordinances requiring streets and sidewalks to be free of obstructions. It may look cool to have something hanging from the tree over the sidewalk, but if someone walks into it, there will be problems. A good rule of thumb is if you are required to clear it of snow, you probably can’t block it with a prop. Now is a good time to check with the local gendarme.
Safe Access
This includes making sure that people can get to your haunt without putting themselves in danger. Make sure that there is no chance that someone could get so scared that his or her only option is to run out into the street.
Additional Insurance
If you are going to have people actually enter your home, you might want to consider adding additional insurance for the nights that the haunt will be open. This is a fairly easy process, and most home owners’ insurance companies are happy to help. Hopefully you will never need to use it, but it is always better to err on the side of caution.
Next time we will explore theme further as well as detail some resources to get ideas and information on building your haunt.
(Original posting here)
By Michael Cieslak
Welcome to part two of our discussion of how to haunt your home. As noted in our first installment, we’re investigating what is required to turn your residence into something fantastically frightening for Halloween.
In terms of full disclosure, I should let you know that my own level of haunting is probably somewhere around Beginner+ to Intermediate-. I have multiple fog machines, an extensive light array, and pneumatics. I both purchase and make my own props. I do have some experience with mask creation and foam latex prop making, but not much. My soldering skills are non-existent.
Oh, you can call me Zed.
Last time around, we discussed the importance of having a centralized theme around which your haunt is based. To explore this further, why don’t we take a quick look at two of the biggest haunts in the area, Realm of Darkness and Erebus. Both are located in Pontiac, but each approaches the idea of theme in a different way.
Realm of Darkness features the classic Quest To Defeat The Wizard. Visitors are lead through a medieval castle filled with various monsters and ghouls until they reach the Wizard at the end. All of the characters and props fits this theme.
Erebus, on the other hand, tells the story of a mad scientist who creates a rift in time and space which allows all manner of horrible things to fall into our world. Using this pretense, the owners can explain areas of science fiction technology next to dinosaurs, swamps inside of a building, and zombies and madmen inhabiting the same space.
So how do you choose your theme? The easiest way to decide is think about what scares you. If there is an idea which creeps you out, odds are it will do the same to someone else. Also, take a look at what you already have purchased. If you have already started building up a supply of props, get them out and see what they have in common. You might have your answer right there.
There are a number of staples for the haunted house which you might want to invest in. These include:
Spiders and webbing — Nothing says “old and creepy” like cobwebs, and spiders rank among snakes and heights as the things most people are afraid of. Large spider webs are also readily available at Halloween stores and are an inexpensive way to start making your house look frightening. The downside to this is that everyone else on the block will have them as well. If you do go the spider route, you might want to invest in a webspinner, a simple device that is essentially a hot glue gun with a fan attachment. This blows the hot glue wherever you point it (wind permitting) and creates gorgeous spiderwebs.
Tombstones — The cemetery is a staple backdrop, whether you are featuring zombies, ghosts, skeletons, or just something eery. They are also inexpensive, fairly easy to make, and an efficient way to make your haunt look bigger than it is. Placing large tombstones in the front of the yard and progressively smaller ones as the boneyard continues rearward will create a forced perspective effect, and the illusion that the space is much larger.
Skulls, skeletons, and bones — We’ve all got them under our skin, but for some reason people are freaked out by bones. You can use full sized skeletons as scares, skulls as background decorations, or bones in the hands of your zombies and werewolves for an added ick factor. I recommend the 4th Rate Bucky Skeleton, available from a variety of retailers, including The Skeleton Store and the Skeleton Factory. Bucky is an anatomically correct skeleton, quite sturdy (I’ve had mine for ten years or more), and it won’t break your bank.
Fog-Machines — We will go into more detail on fog machines in a later post, but they are a great way to add atmosphere.
A number of resources will help you get ideas for your haunt and in some cases learn how to make your own props.
If you are in the Metro Detroit Area, you should check out the Motor City Haunt Club. This group of haunters and horror fans meets once a month on the campus of the University of Detroit-Mercy. They discuss prop creation, lighting, sounds, fog machines, and just about everything else related to home haunting. Meetings usually feature a how-to demonstration of a Make and Take session where attendees create a prop during the meeting.
On-line Resources:
The internet is an ever-changing landscape. A number of websites devoted to home haunting are only occasionally updated, but they are plenty of archives of useful information which has already been posted. These include the Home Haunters Association, Home Haunt News, and Halloween Show.
Conventions:
Several national conventions devoted to professional Haunted Attractions can be fantastic opportunities to learn. Although some of the material may be beyond the scope of the average home haunter, there are usually also panel discussions and demonstrations which can be applied on a smaller scale. Most feature a sales floor featuring all sorts of ghoulish goodies as well. Some of the biggest and best include HauntCon, TransWorld, the Mid-West Haunters Convention, and local favorite the Great Lakes Fright Fest.
Other Material:
I recommend the following material for anyone interested in bigger, scarier Halloween material:
Boneyard Productions DVD set: Includes Horrific Haunted House Tips, Scenery Made Easy, Scares Made Frightfully Easy, and The Official guide to Haunted House Actor Training and Operations Management.
The DC Prop Builder’s Handbook: Devious Concoctions Custom Un-Earthed Creations
Grande Illusions: Books I & II by Savini, Tom (2013) Paperback
Stay tuned for more tips, tricks and guidance for building your best Halloween haunt yet.
By Michael Cieslak
My name is Zed, and I’m a home haunter. I’ve been approached by the Head Nightmarian to discuss the ins and outs of turning your home and/or yard into something terrifying this October.
For those unfamiliar with the term, the home haunter dwells in the middle ground between person who puts up some decorations at Halloween and the Haunted Attractions which spring up around the end of September. The typical home haunt has detailed props, some of which may use light, sound, and pneumatics to achieve their scares. Some home haunts are large enough that the rival the professionals, drawing hundreds or even thousands of people a night.
If you are thinking “this guy is talking about Halloween already?” then this post might not be for you. Everyone else, read on.
I was robbed by a pirate while I was in New Orleans this weekend for the Bram Stoker Award Weekend/ World Horror Convention.
I should explain.
The World Horror Convention is a trade show, more or less, for folks involved with scary stories. Writers take meetings with their agents; writers pitch projects to editors; writers read for other writers. For most of the weekend, everyone is on their most professional behavior, looking all business-like and serious… with the exception of the Masquerade Party on Friday night. I need little excuse to dress oddly so it didn’t really matter that the prize for the best costume was a Kindle. I lie. When I learned of this prize, vowed to win it. The game was ON.
I developed a costume to express “Doktor Leech,” the personna I’ve adopted for my posts at DailyNightmare.com. I acquired a genuine Mad Scientist coat, technically a “Howie Coat” of black twill from Gentleman’s Emporium. On my hands, I wore my riding gauntlets from back in the day when I rode a Harley. My blast goggles were lovingly hand-machined by the folks at Got-steam.com.
But the bloody apron was the key to the whole costume.
I work at a high school where one of the teachers runs an innovative science elective based around Forensic Science, sort of CSI-High. Students learn biology and chemistry and… well, they also learn a fair bit about decay and fingerprints and death. The crime scene dioramas they come up with would make your hair curl. I enlisted the demented enthusiasm of these juvenile bloodstain experts in making my costume.
I got four clean white aprons and divvied them between the two classes. This is the introduction I gave to my young assistants:
“This competition among the Forensics classes is to use your knowledge of blood spatters to create a gory apron for use in a Horror/Steampunk costume. The winning group will be awarded a pizza lunch and the aprons will be evaluated according to both their theatrical utility and their forensic accuracy.
The character I’m creating is a Victorian era “mad scientist” who dabbles in then-popular practices of magnetism, mesmerism and of course, vivisection. Victorian scientists were crazy about vivisection, the act of cutting open creatures while they were still alive to see how they worked. The stains on this apron likely come from such grisly experiments. A couple points come to mind that may influence your creations:
• Since the vivisection was performed on specimens that at least started out the procedure alive, the spatters should be consistent with that state;
• The Mad Doctor has likely been at this awhile so perhaps he started with smaller creatures and moved up to larger, more complicated ones. Humans? Probably.
• The tools used would likely be a surgically sharp scalpel but probably a bone saw as well. Punctures, cuts, hacking all would leave different kinds of marks on the apron;
• Bodies are filled with all sorts of fluids not just blood. Would any other juices have soaked into this apron?
• I suspect that this scientist has used the same apron for many experiments so consider if there is “old blood” in addition to fresh stains.;
• The scientist is probably working over an operating table which would likely influence what parts of the apron receive what kinds of stain;
• Remember this is a costume that I will have to wear around during a Masquerade Party. It wouldn’t hurt if it looked cool as all heck.Make your choices. Do your best and be prepared to explain why you made the marks you did. I look forward to what you come up with.”
In the end, ALL the aprons were impressive so I bought pizza for both classes. I could only take one to New Orleans so I selected the one that had the most detail. On the apron I wore, the students used “blood,” tea and finger print powder in order to simulate the “other fluids” encountered during the Mad Doktor’s investigations. They also figured the Doktor might have gotten his fingers bloody and thus wiped them down the sides. These young Quincy’s also assured me that there were stains consistent with punctures and sawing and more processes than I cared to imagine. Most importantly, it looked cool as heck.
Once I got to NOLA and WHC2013, I acted the part of a horror professional all day, then just in time for the masquerade competition, I transformed into the Doktor. In my opinion, there was no contest. A couple men wore t-shirts; a few women wore corsets. I was ready to win… until two guys walked in dressed head to toe as pirates in full regalia. They were simply jaw-dropping. I grinned and made the best of it, but I knew it was all over. I danced, I flirted — who knew that blood was sexy?– and I had a great time anyway.
Though I didn’t walk away with a Kindle, I did get a bit of a reputation. For the rest of the weekend, complete strangers referred to me as “that bloody guy.” And that was kind of a success.
— by Elsa L.
What makes for a memorable date experience? For me, the best dates are unique, perhaps extravagant and indulgent outings, where I get to experience new sensations while bathed in the attentions of my loved one and possibly attendants. The very best dates conclude with baubles or other memorabilia that recall the outing so I can savor it repeatedly.
Last Saturday, my Beloved Doktor took me to Studio FX 101 in Troy, MI where we spent the day in a spa for special effects. To remind me of the experience, I left with not only a plaster cast of my face but a silicone mold with which I can make many more. I will replay this date for a long time to come.
When my beloved Doktor asked me to participate in this experiment, I mean, date, I agreed without hesitation. We are both fans of the show Face Off, and I knew he’d extensively researched the processes involved. I prefer an experienced partner when seeking new experiences. We were greeted by Nick and Mark, the enthusiastic and personable owners of Studio FX 101, upon our arrival and welcomed with coffee and bagels before getting down to business. The shop is bright and tidy, and the team rigorously follows safety measures which made me relax thoroughly and enjoy the day. A skin test with the products assured me there’d be no adverse reactions, and a thorough presentation of the procedures let me know exactly what to expect.
My beloved Doktor could barely contain his enthusiasm. Grinning somewhat uncharacteristically with that newly shaven face, he was hardly recognizable– even to me. The Doktor volunteered to go first into the “hot seat,” or as I can verify from personal experience, the “cool-and-oozy-then-warm-and-heavy seat.” He was swathed in plastic, and his hair, eyebrows and eyelashes were covered with thick cream conditioner.
Then I got to pour mold compound down the sides of his head and over his face. Nick made sure the nostrils were kept free. Suffocation can so ruin the romantic mood, I find. Alga-Safe starts out only slightly thicker than milk but almost immediately, the liquid transforms into increasingly thicker versions of itself.
We used our hands to move it around my sweetheart’s face covering the entire surface and scooping the dripping substance from his chest back up to the top. Do note: the human nose is ingeniously designed for this activity. Drips naturally cascaded around the nostrils.
After the Alga-safe set up, we applied medical grade plaster-laced bandages over his now unrecognizable visage. Once the plaster cured — a mere 10 minutes at most– we gently freed him from his cocoon.
As he cleaned up, our instructor mixed up plaster and filled the mold. Soon enough we were admiring the resulting cast.
After a pizza lunch, it was my turn. My eyes were closed through the process which heightend my other senses. The alginate running down my face was the first bizarre sensation; it felt really cold!
I had wanted to maintain a slight, enigmatic smile for posterity but I lost track of that idea pretty quickly. For a few minutes, I was strangely occupied with keeping my eyes closed. Very soon, however, the weight of the alginate made it clear that opening my eyes accidently wasn’t possible.
In preparation, we’d learned a few hand signals which I used in response to questions, and I also had a pad and pen where I conveyed my concerns such as when my nose felt runny. I wanted to blow out hard but I didn’t want to puff crudely into an unseen face.
I also was concerned about my ear getting covered, but the instructor assured me that my orifices were safe. While my mold cured around my face, my beloved murmured reassuringly and the time passed fairly quickly.
When the mold was removed, it felt like getting a really intense facial treatment! My eyes felt somewhat sensitive to light for a few minutes, and my hair was, frankly, kind of disgusting. The heavy coat of conditioning cream that kept the alginate from sticking wasn’t all that difficult with soap and water in the utility sink.
Once the mold was complete, it was time to cast my plaster double. A handle was added to the curing plaster to made it easier to pull from the mold as well as to carry and display.
As an unexpected bonus, we were able to make silicone molds of our plaster faces. The Alga-safe used for the initial mold is somewhat fragile and capable of making only a couple casts. Silicone is far more durable and allows the opportunity for multiple casts in a wide variety of materials. Silicone is a two part material and we added a bit of color too, blue for the Doktor, red for me. Before we applied the first layer, the mixed silcone went into a vacuum that sucked out any air bubbles that would create pinholes in the cast. Then we poured on the first layer.
The first coat of silicone looked particularly cool over the plaster faces.
After the third layer of silicone and the hard plaster “mother” mold we made around it cured, we demolded our faces.
You might ask what a girl would do with a plaster cast of her face. The best date I had last year with the Good Doktor was to Theatre Bizarre. Though we were adequately costumed, we want to up our game for this year. A plaster cast of our faces will allow us to make form fitting masks and prosthetics that fit far better than any off the shelf false face. StudioFX101 offers sculpting sessions for just this kind of custom creature-making.
My plaster face sits on my dining room table, a memento of an unforgettable date, and every time I walk past it, I imagine the fantastic, personalized mask I’ll make using it. And sometimes, I think of the fun I’ll have with the Good Doktor this year at Theatre Bizarre and at numerous conventions where cosplay is encouraged. The VERY best dates are the ones that lead to MORE remarkable dates.